Tuscarawas News Detail

Enactus team captures regional competition crown

Posted Apr. 15, 2013

The Kent State University at Trumbull Enactus team was named a regional champion at the Enactus United States Regional Competition held April 12, 2013 in Chicago. The event is one of 10 regional competitions stage across the country during March and April.

“With over 75 other universities competing in Chicago alone, our team was nervous, but we felt really confident about the projects we were presenting. We came ready to win,“ said Antone Klecha, co-president of Kent State Trumbull’s Enactus team.

The Kent Trumbull team is one of more than 500 Enactus programs across the United States. Participating students use business concepts to develop community outreach projects, transform lives and shape a better, more sustainable world.

Kent Trumbull’s Enactus team is currently comprised of five students including freshmen Michael Jajcinovic and Antone Klecha, junior Annette Schick and seniors Luke Backo and Kira Jackson. The team is guided by two advisors, Susan Emens, associate professor, Business Management & Related Technologies and Jacob Roope, advisor, Enrollment Management and Student Services.

During the 2012-2103 academic year, the team organized two projects in Trumbull County. The first being a series of job readiness workshops, with the goal of empowering the students from Warren’s Inspiring Minds program to be better prepared on their path toward higher education and employment opportunities. The team also presented its Flash 2.0 project, which focused on developing applications for organizations including Kent Trumbull, the Warren Township Fire Department and Sam’s Club of Boardman to reduce the amount of paper used to print daily reports. The project called for the creation of a smartphone application that could convert paper intensive reports to a paperless format, thereby saving environmental resources (trees) as well as money (less paper, toner, printing labor, etc.). In the case of Sam’s Club, it was projected that a savings of over $30,000 (annually) could be realized through the conversion of just one of their internal reports.

“The projects that we select each year are ones that not only have a business focus, but are also ones that can impact the lives of others and bring about a sustainable change,” added Kira Jackson, Enactus team co-president.

The culmination of the Enactus program is an annual series of competitions that provide a showcase for teams to present the results of their projects and be evaluated by business leaders. Teams first compete at the regional and national levels, then at the international level when the national champion teams from each country meet at the Enactus World Cup, which is slated for September 29-October 1, 2013 in Cancun, Mexico.

As an Enactus U.S. Regional Champion, Kent Trumbull’s Enactus team now advances to the 2013 Enactus U.S. National Exposition which will be held May 21-23, 2013 in Kansas City, MO.

About Enactus
Enactus is a community of student, academic and business leaders committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to enable human progress. Enactus establishes student programs on college campuses across the nation. Enactus students apply business concepts to develop community outreach projects, transform lives and shape a better, more sustainable world. To learn more, visit enactus.org.